"Business Trips and Meetings Also Banned" Companies Tighten Quarantine Measures After Reversing Work-from-Home Relaxation (Comprehensive)

On the 9th, as the number of new COVID-19 cases reached 1,316, breaking record highs day after day, citizens lined up at a screening clinic set up at the Gangnam-gu Public Health Center in Seoul to get tested. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Heung-soon, Jung Hyun-jin] As the government announced that social distancing in the Seoul metropolitan area will be applied at Level 4 for two weeks starting from the 12th, major companies are tightening their internal quarantine measures again. They have rapidly shifted their guidelines to maximize the proportion of remote work and prohibit events and private gatherings.

According to the industry on the 9th, Samsung Electronics is maintaining a rotating remote work policy at about 30% excluding essential personnel, while requesting employees to refrain from activities with infection risks such as business trips, dinners, and group training sessions. They are operating a workplace task force (TF) for COVID-19 response and are expected to raise the quarantine manual to the highest level depending on the trend of confirmed cases. Some workplaces are reducing congestion by increasing the number of commuter buses and adjusting the number of passengers.

Samsung Electronics also announced that employees should avoid visiting key and general management facilities such as entertainment venues, and if they do visit, they must undergo testing before returning. Face-to-face meetings, training, and events are also prohibited.

Hyundai Motor Company, due to the rapid increase in confirmed cases, has communicated guidelines to employees prohibiting dinners and restricting domestic and overseas business trips. SK Group switched its holding company and SUPEX to 100% remote work from the 7th. SK Hynix had recently announced limited permission for some sports facilities and in-house training but has suspended these and closed sports facilities again to block potential internal infections.

LG Group expanded the remote work ratio to 50% for one week starting from the previous day across the group. Initially, they planned to relax the remote work ratio to 20% from the 1st of this month, but as confirmed cases increased mainly in the metropolitan area, they decided to maintain the previous 40% ratio and, judging the quarantine situation to be serious, set it even higher.

Additionally, LG Electronics decided to prohibit domestic and overseas business trips, group training, and external meetings from the 12th, aligning with the government's social distancing level adjustment, although they had previously advised restraint.

Furthermore, Doosan Group plans to continue remote work for employees other than essential commuting personnel based on current metropolitan area workplaces, switch or prohibit internal and external training and events online, ban domestic and overseas business trips, and advise restraint on external work meetings. LS Group also stated, "We plan to minimize dinners, gatherings, and face-to-face meetings for the time being."

According to the government and quarantine authorities, under Level 4 social distancing, private gatherings of three or more people are prohibited after 6 p.m., and guidelines such as staggered commuting and lunch hours for workplaces excluding manufacturing, and a recommended 30% remote work ratio will be implemented.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.